Runecraft (also known as Runecrafting) is a skill that allows players to craft their own runes for Magicspells. The experience earned from making runes is small, making Runecraft a very slow skill to train, on par with Agility, and due to the need for constant running and banking, it is fairly click and attention intensive. However, due to the constant demand for different types of runes, it can create a very generous profit.

Due to how slow Runecraft is to train, many players look to avoid training Runecraft, and use the experience from lamps and books of knowledge and from playing Tears of Guthix to raise the stat without having to train it.

With the release of the Blood and Soul altars on 7 January 2016, training Runecraft has become less time consuming for high-level runecrafters, with blood runes reaching experience rates of around 38,000 per hour and soul runes reaching up to around 47,000 experience per hour. Alternatively, if the player is willing to put in the effort, lava runes can be crafted for up to 78,000 experience per hour at higher levels.

To access the mines, players must talk to one of five NPCs who can teleport them to the mine. A player may either talk to the NPC and ask to be teleported, or right-click on the NPC and select the "teleport" option.

Altars are where players make their runes. A talisman or a tiara is needed to enter these altars, which are hidden inside "mysterious ruins." Players can find altars by finding them on their own, using a talisman or tiara to locate, or by asking other players. To find an altar using a talisman, players can right-click on the talisman and click on the "locate" option. This will give a message in the chatbox that tells the player the direction they need to go in to find the altar.

When a player has found the mysterious ruins, they then need to enter the ruins. The player can enter by using their talisman on the ruins. If they are wearing an enchanted tiara, they can use the left-click "Enter" option on the ruins instead.

Inside the altar area, the player can then use their essence with the altar to craft runes, or use an unenchanted tiara on the altar if they have the corresponding talisman to enchant the tiara.

Talismans are important as they are needed to make runes. To obtain talismans, players will have to kill monsters or buy them from other players. However, except from Abyss monsters, talismans are an uncommon drop from monsters, making them difficult to obtain. Right clicking them and selecting locate gives a direction to find the altar for that particular type of rune.

Each talisman has a name that indicates what kind of rune a player can make with it. For example, to make air runes, a player needs to find an air talisman.

Talismans take up a space in a player's inventory, allowing them to only hold 27 essence in their inventory. However, a tiara can be equipped, allowing them to craft runes a full inventory of 28 essence. Players can either craft a tiara or buy one from another player.

If a player has a grey tiara with no markings on it, then it is unenchanted. To enchant a tiara, the player needs to bring the talisman to an altar (explained in the next section). For example, if a player wants to make air runes wearing a tiara, then they will have to bring their air talisman to the air altar and combine the talisman and the tiara. Players can also earn some Runecraft experience from making a tiara, shown in the table below. Additionally, making a tiara does not have a Runecraft level requirement.

Players can also be teleported inside the ruins by using the Abyss, which does not need a tiara or a talisman to use. This is possibly the best way to craft your own runes. However, despite being much faster in many cases, players often choose not to use this route due to the risk of the Wilderness. Players travel to level 5 Wilderness to be teleported.

As a player's Runecraft level increases, they can make more runes. However, they only earn experience based on the amount of essence they use. The number of runes made from the essence in a player's inventory in an action that gains a level is determined by the player's level before the runecrafting action, even if crafting the same amount of essence one piece at a time would yield more runes.

5x earth runes can only be achieved with a skill level of 99 with a +5 boost from an evil stew and is the only rune that has a reachable multiple requirement that is past a skill level of 99, with fire runes being just shy of being an accessible 2nd; others are possible but are not accessible with the current existing boosts. It is currently unknown if cosmic and later runes have any multiplier for 3x or higher.

Note: Death & Law Runes are the only runes that can yield multiple runes that do not follow the normal levelling conventions.

Members have an extension to Runecraft, which is the ability to combine two runes into one item.

To craft combination runes, a player needs to take existing runes that are one half of the combination, with a matching talisman (not a tiara), along with an equal amount of pure essence to the altar which comprises the other half of the combination. Use the existing runes or the talisman for the existing runes on the altar. This has a 50% chance of success, and will consume the talisman whether successful or not. Players can wear a binding necklace to have a 100% chance of success instead.

The player may use the Lunar spellMagic Imbue to make combination runes without needing the opposing talisman. Using binding necklaces and Magic Imbue to craft lava runes can yield the highest Runecraft experience per hour in Old School RuneScape.

Players receive less experience at the lower-levelled altars. For example, making mist runes at the air altar will give 8 experience for each rune made, while making them at the water altar will give 8.5 experience for each rune made.

Normally when runecrafting, there is a delay after clicking on the altar which restricts the player from performing any action for a couple seconds. There is no such delay when crafting combination runes, so you can empty pouches or use teleports such as dueling rings immediately after crafting them.

An alternative method for training Runecraft is by using rune runners. A runner is a player that changes noted essences into unnoted essence by converting them in a bank or a shop. At the appropriate altar, the runner trades the Runecrafter changing unnoted essences for noted essences and some fee (usually coins or runes). The Runecrafter increases the amount of essences processed and the runner gets a good reward.

It is highly recommended to complete Heroes' Quest to greatly reduce the cost and time of runecrafting in the Abyss. Completion of Heroes' Quest allows players to recharge their amulets of glory with charge dragonstone jewellery scrolls, and allows the recharging of 27 amulets in the inventory, plus one worn amulet, in a single click. With this method, the most efficient use would be to purchase or acquire 28 amulets of glory, allowing for 112 Edgeville teleports before requiring the player to recharge the amulets. This method saves a significant amount of time for a relatively small initial investment.

Using a ring of dueling while making fire runes and lava runes allows teleporting a short distance (less than 20 squares) from the fire altar entrance and quick banking via the Castle Wars teleport. Each ring will only last for four trips, but because this method saves time and run energy, it is greatly preferred compared to banking at the Duel Arena.

Members may find it more convenient to use pouches with them when mining essence or crafting runes. Pouches can be obtained by killing the monsters in the Abyss. When bank trips are short (e.g. using the Wizards' Guild), the overhead of handling the pouches negates the additional essence carrying capacity.

It is recommended that players mine a large amount of essence and bank it all, and then craft runes with 28 essence in their inventory each time. For example, a player should mine 28 essence, bank them, and go back to the mines and repeat until a sizeable amount of essence has been banked. This method is faster than mining 28 essence and then crafting the runes. (For water and earth runes, the gain is unclear unless this technique is combined with teleportation between bank and altar, since those two altars are only slightly nearer to banks than to rune essence mine teleport points.)

When crafting nature runes on southern Karamja, there are a number of ways to craft them, because the altar is so far from a bank. Possible ways to craft nature runes are:

Have a large amount of noted essence and some money. Sell as much essence as the player's inventory can hold to the general store northwest of the altar, then buy them all back. The player can then go the nature altar and craft their runes and repeat. However, some other players may be doing the same thing, making players buy another player's essence.

Some players use runners to bring them unnoted essence in exchange for noted essence, some cash and/or some runes.

Use the Abyss, using an amulet of glory to teleport to Edgeville and bank there and then repeat, use the Edgeville dungeon teleport with Ancient Magicks, or teleport home and use a mounted amulet of glory.

From any bank, teleport to your house, then use the ckr teleport to get close to the altar. Run to altar and craft. Teleport back to any bank.

From Edgeville, run to the ring across the river and use the ckr teleport to get close to the altar. Craft and use a teleport method to get back to the Edgeville bank.

From Castle Wars/Clan Wars, use Ardougne cloak 2 or above, and run to fairy ring east of the teleport point. Use ring of dueling to go Castle Wars/Clan Wars. *Clan Wars has portal to restore run energy.

From Castle Wars/Clan Wars, use necklace of passage to Wizards' Tower, and run to fairy ring south of the teleport point. Use ring of dueling to go Castle Wars/Clan Wars.

When crafting law runes on Entrana, there are a number of ways to craft them, because the altar is so far from a bank. Remember no weapons or armour of any kind are allowed here. Possible ways to craft law runes are:

Use the Abyss method. Have at least 10+ charged glories for this method. This method isn't recommended because you can't use armour or weapons to protect against PKers and Abyss monsters. Also it limits the ways to get into the inner ring in the abyss.

Upon completing any of the following quests, players may choose to allocate experience to Runecraft. These rewards usually come in the form of items, such as lamps or books, and are independent of any experience rewards directly received for completing the quest.